Conjoined twins doing well one year after separation surgery: ‘God’s gift to us’

Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston has announced that its doctors successfully separated conjoined twins last summer, and the boys are thriving at home today.

When Lucas and Mateo Villalobos Barrera were born on January 18, 2022, they were connected at the lower abdomen and pelvis, and they also shared multiple organs, including the small intestines and colon. Upon learning of the boys’ condition, their parents, Lorena Barrera and Alejandro Villalobos, temporarily relocated from their home in Las Vegas to Houston so that the babies would be able to receive specialized care upon their birth. As doctors monitored Lorena throughout the second half of her pregnancy, they used imaging scans and a labor and delivery simulation to prepare for caring for the twins during and after birth.

'God's gift': Once conjoined twins leave TCH to begin new life

“Every set of conjoined twins poses unique anatomical challenges that require extensive planning for a safe delivery for both mom and babies,” said Dr. Michael Belfort, Obstetrician and Gynecologist in-Chief at Texas Children’s Hospital and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine. “Once Lorena was referred to our team, she underwent diagnostic imaging that allowed us to successfully coordinate delivery and help the immediate postnatal management of the twins. With very detailed planning and simulation training, we were prepared for this complex delivery.”

After their birth, the boys were transferred to the NICU where they received specialized care for months while doctors prepared for their separation. On August 17, a team of 26 specialists successfully separated the boys in a procedure that lasted 17 hours.

READ: ‘So grateful’: Conjoined twins go home after successful separation surgery

“This incredibly complex case utilized nearly every single surgical subspecialty at Texas Children’s Hospital,” said Dr. Alice King, one of the hospital’s pediatric surgeons. “The size and scope of the teams involved with Mateo and Lucas’s care was vast, and there are very few hospitals that could perform a procedure this multifaceted. I could not be more proud of the team responsible for this excellent outcome, and I am excited for what the future holds for these brothers.”

Though the boys were discharged from the NICU in October, the family remained in Houston until last month so that Lucas and Mateo could continue to receive specialized care. After a final operation for each of them on June 28, they have returned to their home in Las Vegas, and their parents report that they are even starting to walk.

“I don’t know what else we can ask for in life,” Lorena said. “We have our boys here, and that is God’s gift to us. We are eternally grateful to the specialists at Texas Children’s. It is from the hand of God that my children are here. The nurses and the specialists were excellent. We are very grateful indeed. This may be a long journey, but we ask that life and God give us the strength to keep looking after them and doing all the hard work.”